1/22/2011

BURSTS

BURSTS is a new label out of HOUSTON, TEXAS. The first two offerings of this label reviewed.

burst 01: WEREWOLF JERUSALEM/RESPIRATOR c20:

Minimal packaging consists of a plain black c20 (with no markings designating which artist is on either side) comes in standard cassette shell with xeroxed artwork oh what appears to be two people by a fence.

Side A/Werewolf Jerusalem starts off with a lower pitched, chunky wall that grits and grinds and corrodes and eats away at the speakers like a thousand maggots. A sudden blast of even more highly concentrated static vomit pushes the already thick wall into new territory. The consistency of the wall gets so great in parts that the grit becomes compacted, almost too much before returning back to the already charred state. The wall continues on its mangled, mutilated way twisting, churning. It starts to build even more, the gain increases ever so lightly, only pushing harder until fading into static.

Side B/Respirator is introduced with a ghostly hiss and what sounds to be contact mic'ed sounds of rustling. A low wall of ambience creeps into the background, gaining momentum as the contact mic'd sounds seem to gain a quick echo quality behind them. The sounds scatter and scurry around like bugs or darts, always grounded by the hallow ambience behind. The sounds come and go, gaining and losing momentum before ultimately coming to an end. The ambience goes on, continuing until the end of the track before cutting off suddenly.

4/5

burst 02: STRESS: Bury The Hatchet 3" CDr

This mini-cdr comes in a taped, hand assembled, sprayed sleeve. Inside, a black with white speckle cdr, a torn piece of paper hand stamped with 'stress burry the hatchet' as well as a hand cut, screened stress patch.

The track immediately starts- a blown out, empty wall. It sounds as if the wall was recorded in a cave, at the lowest quality, but at such a high volume that the audio was clipped with whatever device recording it. Around two minutes in, the ghostly wall catches ablaze and a serious sizzle and crackle starts in the wall, all the while still having a cavernous, fuzzed out feel. Like a torch burning in a cave it rages on. Eventually, a new detail starts to emerge- the creaking and squealing of warped wheels turning, possibly that of a cassette deck. This new texture is gradual and eventually dominates the track for a while, before the track becomes deeper, losing a bit of its claustrophobic feel, but gaining more texture. This flaming mess carries us to the end of the track before cutting off.

3/5

Overall this first batch from BURSTS is quite satisfying. Hopefully the label keeps up the good work and continues to put out quality TEXAS noise.